slow compared to the months before – in my defense, tougher reading – or maybe i’m just making excuses:)

“what happened” – hillary clinton’s book on the election – obviously, your political view will influence how you read this book – honestly, you probably don’t read it if you don’t feel for her in the first place – that said, i liked it – i know no one else did – they wanted her to take more of the blame for the election – whatever…

“i’m buffy and you’re history” – great book – very much enjoyed it – made me go back and listen to “once more with feeling” a few more times – even used one idea at the gifted conference – basically, that series is just super rich and there’s a lot in it to write about

“my gold” – frank shorter – good book about the US marathon gold medalist at Munich – he’d actually written a book before – maybe like 1984 – and I’d read that one too – this one went into the abuse he suffered from his father – a beloved small-town doctor – abuse that shorter kept secret for most of his life – so his courage to now come forward, i thought that was good and powerful

“becoming brilliant” – read so i could be a good uncle to my niece – who’s one-years-old – but the book wasn’t really about child development – it was about how terrible schools are – and it blamed testing – grrr – basically, just written by peeps who didn’t know what they were talking about – but you know, throwing stones at public education always works…

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“One Goal” – great book about soccer in Maine – how a longtime soccer coach at a high school incorporated Somalian refugees to construct a state winning team – it was predictable what would happen, but the book was interesting b/c it explored the complexities of immigration on small towns

“What Made Maddy Run” – exceptional book – but very sad – I think I’m presenting on this book tomorrow – about the term destructive perfectionism – the idea of what happens when a high achiever comes back to the back – a lot of kids can’t handle that well – I see it all the time in middle school – so very good

“Hideout” – middle school BOB – good read – and by a local author, that was a nice plus

“Black Bruins” – love this book – about the 1939/40 UCLA Bruins – they had four African-American football players – including Jackie Robinson – at a time when football was fairly segregated (the NFL had re-segregated) – I learned a lot about that time – I knew a lot about Robinson, but not much about his UCLA years – he was truly an amazing athlete

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